Best Friends
by Penny Charlotte Brown
Summary: Short and cute stories of Oscar and her best friend. A modern-day adaption with some altered details to suit modern-day France better.
1. Chapter 1

This is a modern-day adaption, some detailed altered in order to suit better today´s France.

Best friends-forever

 **The first encounter**

Oscar was seven years old, when her father had decided that she needed a playmate, who would at the same time protect her. One day, he had gone to pick him up…

Oscar was waiting by the window. Her father had already been away for hours. What took so long? At that instant she saw the car driving at their front yard. They had finally arrived. She immediately rushed to the main hall of the manor. As she reached the hall, she calmed down and leaned on the wall, because she wanted to hide her enthusiasm from her father. He had always told her that a true gentleman would never show his feelings. That was she was going to be, when she grew up.

Her old nanny, Sophie, opened the door and welcomed them in. Dear Sophie had stayed at the manor to serve them after Oscar had grown too old to need a nanny. Instead, she was running the household while the missus was busy sharing her work with her husband, Reynier.

The door opened and she saw her father. "Oscar" he said "You do know what I expect from you from now on?"

"Yes, father" she calmly replied.

Then she saw a shadow behind her father. He was a bit nervous to enter such a big hall he had never seen before.

"Hello" she greed him.

He peeped behind his master and looked at the blond girl just a small distance away from him. As soon as he saw Oscar, he ran towards her. He had forgotten all about his shyness.

Oscar stood still, while he jumped on her, right into her arms and started to lick her face. He was so happy.

"Heh heh!" Oscar laughed "Stop it! It tickles!"

"Oh, sir" Sophie got all teary "They look so happy together"

"Yes. As soon as I heard that my colleague´s German Sheppard had puppies, I knew that one was meant for my son"

"You mean daughter…"

"She is my son!" he yelled angrily at her. He had always hoped for a boy, but his dreams were crushed when Oscar was born. He decided to raise her as his son, because being the only child, she would someday inherit him and the family business.

Then he walked towards Oscar.

"It´s high time you take some responsibility. You are now old enough to take care of him."

"Yes, father."

"What will you call him?" Sophie asked. Oscar was like a grandchild to her. She didn´t have children herself, so she fell in love with Oscar as soon as she laid eyes on her. She was just like a tiny little angel.

"Rex"

"Like a king"

Oscar had just started her Latin lessons, and she felt natural to call her dog "Rex"

Then he ran outside followed by Oscar. Both Reynier and Sophie watched the two friends playing together in the garden. After that day Oscar and Rex became inseparable…


	2. Chapter 2

This is a modern-day adaption, some detailed altered in order to suit better today´s France.

Best friends-forever

 **After dark**

Oscar had just finished her chores and was about to be ready for bed. She walked to the living room, where her parents were sitting.

"Good night father, good night mother"

"Good night, sweetheart." replied her mother.

Her father mumbled something behind the newspaper he was reading. He seemed very concentrated. That was a sign for Oscar to retreat.

As she walked towards the stairs, she winked at Rex and he joined her. They were accenting the stairs, when her father stopped them.

"Where are you going?"

"To bed."

"He´s not." he said with a stern voice. "I bought him a doghouse. He sleeps outside."

"But father!" she was upset. "You´re not really going to make Rex sleep outside all alone?"

"He´s a dog and he should know who´s the master in this house."

She looked at her friend with saddened eyes. He didn´t look too happy, either. He must have felt what was going on. After all, he was a clever dog. Well, a puppy, actually.

"But father! He´s only a puppy! A little baby with his first day here! You don´t expect him…"

"Do as I tell you and take him outside!" he yelled.

Many might have been scared already, but not Oscar. Oh no, she was pretty used to the fact that her father had a short temper. And that only made her more stubborn. It was a battle between the two.

"Didn´t you say you brought him here to protect me? Well, how he´s going to protect me if he´s far away from me?" she tried that clever trick, but it didn´t work the way she had hoped...

"He will protect you, as a matter of fact, he will protect us all. By staying outside he´ll know if someone wants to break in. Then he´ll alert us."

"Oh…"

He had won. This time. "alright, father" she reluctantly agreed.

"Come on, Rex." she took him outside into the garden right below her bedroom window.

It was a spacious and quite comfortably-looking doghouse, and he would be alright in there. And he had his own bowl for water.

"There you go, Rex." and pointed him the house. "You sleep in there."

He looked straight into her eyes and bent his head.

"Oh, don´t look at me like that, with your sad eyes. You´ll be fine here."

Then he started to whine.

"I´m sorry, Rex. I really am. I don´t like this any more than you do, but you have to stay here. My father is so strict he won´t have it otherwise. " She explained to him and then left. He tried to follow her, but she told him `no`.

"I´m sorry"

After she had gone upstairs into her room and changed into her pyjamas, she just laid in her bed without being able to sleep. It was not long before she heard howling. Or at least, something of the sort. It was a mixture of barking and howling. He was trying his best, but wasn´t very convincing.

Oscar ran to her window…

"Shhh…"

"You can´t keep that noise!" she tried to yell as quiet as she could. Luckily, her parents´ room was on the other side of the manor.

But he didn´t stop. He was missing her already.

She took a deep breath, because she was about to do something forbidden. And if she ever got caught, well…God help her…

"Alright, Rex!" she yelled whispering. "I´m coming. Just wait!"

She quietly sneaked out into the garden wearing only her pyjamas. She bent over to him and took his head looking straight into his eyes.

"Rex." she started. She had begun her first serious conversation. "You can come to my room at nights, but we have to stay quiet about it, ok? If my father finds out, he´s gonna be very angry."

He answered her by licking her face, again.

"Alright, that´s enough." she wasn´t accustomed to her face being licked like that. "Now, be quiet."

Then she stood up and took him into her room quietly sneaking. But as soon as they got into her room and Oscar had closed the door behind them, he jumped into her bed and started to bark. He was obviously very happy...But he was showing his happiness in a wrong way.

"Shhh…" she rushed to him "Now what did I tell you about being quiet?"

She then went to bed and hugged him. He was so soft with his furry round figure. "Rex" That calmed him down.

Then they went inside the cover and started to sleep. They were tired after playing all day…

"Good night…"

"My friend…" she whispered…"Rex" and fell into deep sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

**The** **lost** **shoe**

Part 1

Some weeks had passed since Rex had arrived to Oscar's manor. Everything has gone well, and Oscar and her best friend had gotten to know each other, or so Oscar had thought…

That day Oscar and Rex were playing in the garden. It was Sunday and Oscar had day off from her school. She was throwing a stick, which she thought Rex would fetch. But it didn´t go the way she had planned it.

When Rex ran towards it and taking it into his mouth, instead of taking it back to Oscar, he kept it to himself and started digging. "Rex!" she yelled."Rex! Bring it to me!" But Rex just kept on digging. What was with him? Oscar walked towards him watching him surprised. When the whole on the ground was big enough, Rex threw the stick into it.

"So that´s what you´ve been up to all this time I had been in school." She wondered. "Digging holes for your treasures?"

She looked around the garden, and she noticed that he had covered his traces pretty well. No holes visible.

"Am I glad that my father is on a business trip" she told him. Then she remembered something. "Wait!" she yelled "don´t cover it just yet!" and she ran quickly to her room. There, she picked up a Barbie, which given to her by Sophie. She knew Oscar wouldn´t play with girls´ toys, but still she had insisted that the Barbie would inspire her into less "violent" games. That´s the way Sophie had explained it to her. "I don´t understand: Violent?" There was no violence in boys´ games. "You must go" she looked at the Barbie, and then ran back to Rex.

"There" she said dropping the Barbie into the whole "let´s bury our treasures; your stick and my doll" They covered the hole quite fast, which was good, because a moment later they would have got caught.

"Lady Oscar! " Sophie yelled coming towards them "What on Earth are you doing here at the edge of the garden?"

"We´re…"

"Never mind that. " Sophie interrupted "It is time to change clothes! The guests will be arriving soon!"

Since her father was away, her mother had invited visitors to company them; this time it was missus Gerodero and her son, Victor. Victor was about the same age as Oscar and they had known each other quite some time, already. He was ok, she thought. At least he was a boy, she wouldn´t play with girls. They were so strange.

"Come on, Rex!" she said to him and they ran indoors.

Sometime later, the doorbell rang and Sophie hurried to welcome the visitors.

"Hello, my dear friend" missus Gerodero greeted Oscar´s mother."How are you?"

"Thank you, we are just fine. Welcome to our home. I am so glad that you and Victor could make it."

"Of course." She replied taking off her jacket at the same time.

While the two women were exchanging greetings, Victor became impatient, so he ran to look for Oscar. He had heard she had a new friend and he was anxious to meet him.

He didn´t have to wait long, before he saw Oscar coming towards him.

"Hello"

"Hello"

"So, where is he?" he asked.

"Rex!" she yelled and he came to her.

Victor was surprised; it was a dog! A dog!

"Victor, let me introduce you to my best friend, Rex"

"He cannot be your best friend" he argued.

"Why not?"

"Because he is a dog!"

"Isn´t there a saying that dog is man´s best friend"

"You´re not a man!" he persisted.

"I will be, just wait and see!"

"You´ll never be a man!"

"Fine, suit yourself." she said and turned away "come on, Rex" and they started to walk away from Victor. "let´s play together. Just you and me"

"Oscar" he knew he had said things he shouldn´t have. "I´m sorry"

"Yeah?"

"Yes! I want to play with you!"

"And with Rex?"

"Of course!"

"Alright" she said "You know what? I just found out a trick Rex had learned all by himself. Want to see?"

"Sure!"

So, the three friends ran into the garden…

Meanwhile Oscar's mother and missus Gerodero were enjoying coffee and cake in the dining room. They were so engaged into their conversation. After all, they were good friends.

"Look what I bought" Missus Gerodero showed what she had bought for her husband. "These are handmade, specially ordered to fit my husband" she told missus Jarjayes as she showed the shoes.

"These are so beautiful"

"Guess what? These are handmade, and in France"

"Really?" That was really amazing, since nothing these days was made in France.

"The latest fashion"

As the ladies were admiring the most beautiful shoes, Sophie interrupted them "Would you care for more coffee?

"Yes, please" they answered.

"Let´s put these fine shoes away back into the box. So that the shoes won´t get dirty" Sophie said putting the shoebox on the chair. She was really careful not to spill coffee on those. It would be catastrophic.

At the same time Oscar, Rex and Victor came into the room, too. "Lady Oscar!" Sophie scolded her "What did I tell you about running indoors?"

"I´m sorry…"

"It´s ok" Sophie could never really be angry with Oscar. Because she was a very special child for her. "Now sit down the two of you while I bring you some juice and cake" she smiled.

So the two friends sat down and were soon eating their cake.

Not long after that Oscar noticed that one of the shoe was gone. "Oh no!" she thought. Luckily their mothers hadn´t noticed. She winked at victor, and they ran outside.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Haven´t you notice? One of the shoes is missing!"

"What?"


	4. Chapter 4

**The lost shoe**

Part 2

"One of the shoes is gone" she said "And we need to find it before anyone finds out"

"Where do you think it is?" Victor wondered.

"What do you think? Rex had buried it, of course!" she said raising her voice.

"Oh no!"

"Oh yes!"

"We need to find him!" she told him, so they ran to search for Rex.

"Rex!" she was calling as she was running around looking for him.

"Rex!" he was calling as he was following her.

"Don´t imitate me. You sound like an echo" Oscar told Victor as they stopped.

But they didn´t need to look any further anyway, because right at that moment Rex came towards them.

"Rex, There you are" Oscar kneeled down and looked at Rex straight into eyes.

"Now, Rex. Missus Gerodero had lost one of her shoes. I know you took it. You see that shoe is important to her and you have to give it back."

"Are you sure this is going to work?" Victor asked.

"Shh!"

Rex looked at Oscar with an innocent look on his face. He had learned that trick soon after he had arrived at the manor. And it seemed to work every time; nobody could really be angry with such an adorable puppy. At least not the lady folk.

"Rex, please. We need to find the shoe. Where did you bury it?"

"…"

When Rex gave no clue of the whereabouts of the shoe, Oscar showed him with her hands that she wanted him to dig. That was _the_ language he understood. He quickly started to run.

"I think he´s got it!" she said to Victor. And so they ran after him.

Then Rex reached one corner of the garden and started to dig. Both Oscar and Victor observed him further away as he was digging. But it seemed to take forever. Since they were pretty nervous to find the shoe, so they started to dig, too. Now they were all digging the same small hole.

And soon they discovered something, but were they disappointed when they found out it was only an old bone.

"That was fine, Rex, but you need to concentrate. We are looking for a shoe. Not a bone." she told Rex.

"A shoe"

Rex ran towards other end of the garden and so did Oscar and Victor, too.

As soon as Rex started to dig, Oscar and Victor rushed to help him. It was, of course, faster that way. Oscar was pretty sure that this time they had it right. Soon they discovered something that looked like a shoe. But when Oscar took it up from the dirt, it wasn´t the one "Look" she said to Victor "another shoe" …now wait…This shoe was the one she had been looking for a couple of days now. Well, at least she found it.

Rex got yet another scent and off they ran, again…

They continued digging holes, and always found something, but not the shoe they were looking for. "Oscar" Victor was getting tired of digging and running around the garden "Are you sure that the shoe is buried somewhere in the garden?"

"Well, I thought so. But…" she was hesitant " I am not so sure anymore."

"Oh" Victor noticed Sophie approaching "You´d better hold her back" he said to Oscar.

"Don´t worry. I´ll handle this. You just keep an eye on Rex" she said getting up and wiping the dirt off her clothes at the same time. Then she walked towards Sophie.

"Lady Oscar!"

Sophie came yelling angrily at Oscar "What are on Earth are you doing? You three just disappeared from the dining room, running around in the garden…" then she noticed Oscar´s messy appearance "For goodness sake! Look at you! You´re all covered in dirt!" she cried.

"It´s alright" Oscar tried to calm her down "this goes off when we wash the clothes"

But Sophie didn´t calm down, not this time. She was too upset about Oscar´s behaviour. Then she noticed the holes. "What are those?" she looked at the garden.

"Holes."

"I can see that. But why…"

"We were digging holes" Oscar replied.

"Holes?! Holes?! What on Earth for?!"

"We´re playing" of course she couldn´t tell Sophie the truth about the lost shoe. They needed to find it before anyone would even notice it was gone.

At that very moment they saw Victor further away crawling after Rex as they circled a tree. They just went around and around the tree.

"Do you call that playing?" Sophie was shocked. A well-mannered boy crawling after a dog like that. And with dirty clothes. She had seen a lot in her lifetime, but this was something she had never expected to experience.

"Well…" Oscar didn´t know what to explain so she just said the first thing that came into her head. "Victor likes Rex"

"What nonsense!" she was angry. The three had messed up the garden completely. And what was even worst, was that they were all dirty. "You go and tell your friends to stop that and to come at the manor to clean up. Right at this moment!" she yelled angrily and left.

"O boy!" Oscar said to herself and ran towards her friends.

"Well? Did you find it?" she asked Victor.

"No" he said "This doesn´t work"

"Yeah, I guess so" she admitted.

"So what do you suggest we do?"

"Well" Oscar started thinking "Rex have a great sense of smell."

"So?"

"Let´s take him back to the other shoe…"

"So that he can take that as well?"

"No, stupid! He can smell that and get scent, and then he´ll lead us to the missing shoe."

"Sounds fine. Let´s try that."

They sneaked quietly into the dining room, where the other shoe still was left untouched in its box. Both of their mothers and Sophie were in the garden bemoaning the outcome of the trio´s "play".

Oscar let Rex sniff the shoe, and he did have a scent just as she had predicted. And was that just in the nick of time. But for their surprise, instead of running out, Rex ran upstairs towards Oscar´s room. Oscar and Victor followed him into the room and saw how Rex went to his own toy box. And there it was on top of his toys. The long lost shoe was found. And for some unimaginable reason he hadn´t buried it but rather kept it as his toy. He must have though the shoe as his new toy he wanted to keep.

"Phew!" Victor looked at the shoe and saw it unharmed.

"I guess he didn´t have time to play with it, because we were searching for him" Oscar wondered as she saw the shoe.

Victor took the shoe and ran downstairs as his mother was calling him.

"Rex" she scolded him "You can´t take someone´s shoe like that!"

"…"

"You know, I think we need to go to Dogs´ School. There you will learn some manors."

"Woof!"


	5. Chapter 5

**Member of the family**

It was still early in the morning, but the Jarjayes´ couple was already up. They were enjoying breakfast together in the dining room, when Rex passed them by.

He was heading for the front door. For the morning news. He watched as the paper dropped onto the floor, and then picked it up.

Rex took it into the dining room, to his master. Rex gave the paper to him "thank you, Rex" he said and took the paper. Then he went to greet Oscar's mother. ""Good morning, Rex" she smiled and petted him.

Then Rex went upstairs into Oscar´s room. The door to her room was a little ajar, so he just slipped right through it. Oscar was still sleeping in her bed. Rex jumped on it and started to lick her face.

It was time for her to wake up.

And soon she opened her eyes "good morning, Rex" she said and hugged him. Then, she tossed her the blanket off of her, and got up from the bed. She opened her closet to look for clothes.

Rex was still sitting on her bed and waited until she changed her clothes. He was stretching himself; first he stretched his forelegs, then his hind legs. He was then yawning. What a lovely morning.

"Ok, Rex" Oscar said. She was now ready "Let´s go downstairs to have breakfast!"

"Woof!" he answered.

Then they rushed outside her room into the corridor and then descended downstairs. Soon they reached the dining room.

"Good morning, mother and father" she greeted her parents.

"Morning" her father was concentrated on reading his morning paper.

"Good morning, sweetheart" her mother answered.

Oscar sat down on the table while Rex went into the kitchen.

"Good morning" Sophie appeared from the kitchen to serve breakfast for Oscar.

"Morning" she said and started to eat her breakfast.

Oscar's parents were talking about Rex and how nice he lately has become. "…after all, he was the best of his class" missus Jarjayes praised him.

"Well, he should be. The school wasn´t cheap" Oscar´s father answered.

"Speaking of money…" then Oscar's father asked why did she all of a sudden want to renovate the garden. She said she just felt like it. No one ever told him about the holes that Oscar, Rex and Victor had dug there. It was a secret between Oscar, her mother and Sophie.

"Father" Oscar interrupted them "why Rex cannot eat with us?"

"Because he is a dog"

"But he is my best friend!" Oscar argued.

But her father insisted. "Rex eats in the kitchen!"

Without saying a word, Oscar got up from her chair.

"Where are you going?" her father asked.

"To the kitchen" she answered taking her plate and glass "I´ll eat with Rex"

After hearing that, her father got angry and denied it. He persisted that she should stay there, but Oscar was stubborn and walked into the kitchen.

"I know I shouldn´t say anything" Sophie started "but Rex has become very dear to us, and especially to mademoiselle" she then followed her beloved mademoiselle into the kitchen.

It was then, when Oscar´s mother started to persuade her husband "dear, why can´t Rex eat with us?"

"I told you why"

"He is very dear to our daughter"

"…"

"Son" she instantly corrected.

"And to us. He is part of this family now. Ever since he came here, he has been cheering us all."

"No"

"Well, if only I had known…" she stated with frustrated voice.

"What?"

" that marrying you would lead to this tyranny…"

"What on Earth are you talking about, woman?"

"Letting you decide to raise Oscar as a boy was one thing, but…" she looked at her husband the way that made him see how serious she really was "…I thought we were equal partners and that we decide things together. But it seems like you´re the one, who´s making all the decisions"

He looked at his wife for a while. The expression on her face was so firm. He knew he had gone too far. Although, he was strict, but he did still love his family. He didn´t want to lose neither his wife nor his son.

"Alright" he finally agreed. "Rex can eat in the dining room with us"

"Did you hear that, honey?" her mother yelled so that Oscar could hear that from the kitchen. It was soon afterwards when she and Rex came from the kitchen. Sophie placed Rex´s cups on the floor in one of the corners while Oscar sat down on her chair, again.

"It was a fine decision" Sophie thanked him.

After eating her breakfast, Oscar thanked her parents. "Come on, Rex" she told him, and they went into the garden.

It was all brand new; Oscar´s mother had wanted for a long time to fulfil her dreams about having an 18th century garden, and after Oscar and Rex had ruined her garden, she saw the opportunity to renovate it as she liked.

Everything was just like it used to be back in the 18th century, when their ancestors had lived there. She had had the fortune to look at the original plans made at the time, and she had instructed her gardeners to follow those plans. Except for one tiny thing;

In one remote corner, there was a wet peace of cement just ready for Oscar and Rex….

Freshly laid just this morning.

They approached the cement, and then Oscar pushed her hand into it taking it quickly out. She looked at Rex, giving him a sign. So, Rex then copied her, doing the same. Soon, Sophie came with a towel and cleaned both Oscar's hand and Rex´s pawn with the towel.

Then the three of them stepped few steps back and looked at the cement: it stated both of their names "Oscar" and "Rex, and below was a text written: "best friends", under which there were their hand and paw prints.

Soon afterwards, Oscar's parents came to them. Oscar's father had a silver collar in his hand. "Rex" he said "you have shown that you deserve this collar by completing the school assigned to you, and by getting the finest grades" It sounded so formal, but everybody seemed to be touched by his speech; after all, this was his first speech ever to a dog. So, without further due, he put the collar on Rex.

Everybody cheered. And Rex himself was happy, too. He was so proud to be accepted by his master. He was now officially member of Oscar´s family.


	6. Chapter 6

**A Thief**

Oscar knew many people, some from her school, some through her mother and some through her father. But they all seemed to belong to the same group, that is, they were all well-to-do. Yet, that was about to change…

That day, Oscar and Rex were in Paris with her parents. Shopping, as they were having a garden party later the afternoon. Oscar´s mother had wanted to celebrate her new-old- garden, and she needed to buy things before the guests would arrive.

"Sweetheart" her mother says to her "I bought something for Rex" as she gave him a new toy.

He seemed very happy, but she didn´t. She looked rather…red.

"Mother!" she felt embarrassed. "Do you have to call me _that_ in front of everyone?"

"But, you´ll always be our special…child"

"I know, but…"

"Oscar is right" her father said "he is a big boy, already"

"…"

"Being called "sweetheart" in public at that age…" he tried to explain it to his wife.

"But…"

"Oscar is seven years old, already." he continued.

As her parents continued their conversation about her age, Rex turned his head away. With his big ears he seemed to be listening something…or someone… in some distance away from them.

Oscar noticed her friend´s behaviour, so she turned to look at the same direction as he was looking.

Immediately Oscar saw a boy…A strange boy staring at them from a distance. Hiding himself behind a parked car.

But as soon as he noticed that he had being spotted, he ran away.

Oscar´s eyes followed him as he ran away; a boy with dark-brown hair.

"Hmm…" Oscar wandered. "Why did he look at us in that weird way?" she thought.

And her thoughts remained the same as they went home. She couldn´t help wandering. The look on his face had been so weird…

As soon as Oscar was alone with Rex in her room, she asked him "did you sense his evil stare?" No one had ever looked at her like that. But it was all too obvious; the boy definitely did not like them.

"But whatever for?"

"Never mind him, Rex" she told him and shook her head. They had more important things to think about.

Then Oscar quickly changed her clothing, because the party downstairs had already begun.

They had invited everyone to their garden party. Not just friends but also some very important clients of her father´s. So, she knew that it was important to give a good impression. And they would, together with Rex she descended downstairs to socialize with the guests. Oscar had never really liked parties nor socializing with bunch of people, who she barely even knew. But this was just something she had to do.

Luckily, they spotted someone she got along with; Victor. So, Oscar and Rex went to greet him.

"Hello"

"Hello"

"Hi, Rex" Victor greeted him as he petted him.

"He surely follows you everywhere"

"What do you mean?"

"Every time I see you, he´s not far from you"

"That´s only natural." Oscar explained "He´s my best friend…" she started.

"Besides, he´s trained to protect me. So, of course, he follows me everywhere" Oscar told him.

"Hmm…So, he´s like your shadow…" Victor came to the conclusion.

"I suppose he is…" she replied. She never had thought it like that, but it all made sense to her.

At that exact moment Rex saw the boy from earlier, again. He notified Oscar by pushing her gently with his muzzle.

"What is it, Rex?" she asked him.

She followed his gaze, and saw him. That boy. What was he doing over there, at her place?

"Excuse us" she said to Victor and left with Rex. They started to follow the boy.

"Rex" she whispered "let´s be careful. We don´t want him to notice us"

They sneaked quietly closer to him, just to see what he was doing. Being cautious not to go too close to him, they followed him with their eyes.

They watched as the boy went upstairs. They knew he wasn´t invited. He was not part of the social sphere Oscar´ s family belonged to. And, even if he was, he had no reason for going upstairs…

He had something bad in his mind.

He was sneaking quietly. But so were Oscar and Rex…

Right after him…

They followed him while he was going into one of the rooms upstairs. They peeked inside and saw him stealing something from Sophie´s room.

Oscar and Rex walked in on him "Don´t move!" she yelled.

The boy got startled for awhile, but then he quickly recovered from it and ran towards them. So quickly that Oscar didn´t have time to react. He managed to escape from them, knocking Oscar down as he rushed out of the room.

"Wait!" she yelled after him.

"Rex!" she turned towards him "go after him!"

And he did.

As she got up, Rex was already close of catching the boy…

She quickly ran after them, and saw how Rex was chasing the boy downstairs.

As fast as the boy was running, he was still no challenge to Rex…

Rex jumped on him and knocked him over. The boy fell onto the floor. And by the time Oscar got there, Rex was standing on his stomach and showing his teeth.

Rex growled. Even though, he was still a very young, he surely had impressing teeth. So impressing, that the boy looked frightened.

"Get him off of me!" he yelled.

Everybody started to gather around them and stare. Who was this strange boy? And what had happened?

"Not until you tell me what you took" Oscar told the boy.

"No" he persisted.

"Rex is a trained guard dog, if you are interested to know…" Oscar wanted him to start talking

"…he is good at catching criminals"

"What?"

"Yeah, you heard me. German Sheppards make the best police dogs, because they always…

"ALWAYS…

"Catch the criminals…"

"Fine!" he gave up. It was no use arguing with that stubborn girl and her dog with big teeth.

He managed to open his pockets, and took out lots of candies. "I only took those, because I wanted to give them to my friends" he admitted.

"That´s still steeling!" Oscar argued.

"Get him off of me!" he insisted.

"Not until you tell your name"

"I won´t!" he yelled.

"Fine" she said.

"Rex" she told her best friend. "He´s not very cooperative."

Rex started to stare at the boy under him with an intense look in his eyes. He growled even lowder.

"Stop that!" he got nervous. He had never been stared at like that.

"…"

"Fine!" he finally agreed "my name is Bernard, Bernard Chatelet…"

"You still haven´t told us why are you here." she continued questioning him.

He had no other choice, but to tell her…" It´s my mother´s birthday…But she has just lost her job and doesn´t have enough money to arrange the party… she hasn´t cancelled it, and there´s visitors coming…" his eyes became wet.

"…she is trying to arrange the best parties, but she doesn´t have money even to buy candies…"

So he was steeling, because he wanted to make his mother´s birthday party great?

At that moment Oscar´s parents came to the scene.

"What is going on?" Her father started "Oscar?" he asked her with an annoyed look on his face.

"Who is he? And what is he doing here?" he asked her. He was not on the lists of the guests.

"Oh, this is my new friend, Bernard. He´s here to greet us." she explained.

"Your friend?"

"Yes" she uttered.

" Then why Rex is on top of him?"

"Because they are playing. Isn´t it right, Rex?"

She made a move with her hand in order to get Rex off of the boy. And it worked.

Rex came to her.

Then Oscar´s mother help the boy up. Everybody were still watching them, but said nothing. They knew that Oscar was handling this.

"Don´t forget your candies" Oscar said as she gave the candies to him.

"But…" he was puzzled.

"You must run along, now. Aren´t your mother waiting for you?"

"Hmm…"

"Bye bye, Bernard" Oscar said and then came closer to him.

"Remember, steeling is still wrong" she whispered into his ears. He couldn´t manage to say anything, because he was so stunned by her sudden change of heart.

He just left.

"What a strange boy" her father said.

"He´s only upset because his mother just lost her job" Oscar explained "father" she turned towards him. "You could help her"

"What?!"

"Perhaps…" Oscar said in a low voice…"By giving her a job…"

"Hmm…" he only muttered as he couldn´t really get angry with all the people around them. Very important people, so he just walked towards one of his guests. As her father returned to his duties, so did everyone else.

They acted as if nothing had happened.

Except for Victor, who came towards Oscar and Rex.

"Oscar" he started "why did you let him get away?"

"I don´t know…" she wandered herself. Why would she indeed have let him off the hook? "I just felt sorry for him, I guess. His mother has lost her job and all…"

"You know…The way you solved this, catching the criminal…"

"…you and Rex are like Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson"

She turned around and stared at him. "What?"

"Well, a dog-version of Doctor Watson, anyway…" he corrected.

Oscar looked at Rex and said "What do you say, Rex? How about starting our own detective agency?"…winking at him.

"Woof!"


End file.
